First stop, Portsmouth

It was decided, after much discussion, that we need to start seeing the country of our residence in its everyday glory. The plan is to drive out to what has hitherto been just another point on the map and explore it with the help of the wonderful man-made device, the satellite navigation system. Our first port of call on this grand week-end-ly voyage of discovery was Portsmouth, the city of Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Portsmouth, like many other cities in England, has great historic significance. Many a hero and villian have left England from this port. It also, apparently, has the privilege of being known as the most haunted city in the South East of England. The University of Portsmouth has an almost overpowering presence and the city appeared, at least to us, to be most definitely a university-town.

Given our limited time on the port, we decided to see the whole of it in one instance. This we managed by getting on to the Spinnaker Tower which has three decks from where you can see the whole city and a significant part of the southern coastline. The high speed lift takes you to deck one, which is 100m above sea level. The small glass floor in the middle of the deck was more of a disappointment and only served to keep obnoxious children occupied in their all consuming monkey-business. The views from the deck though were absolutely spectacular. The water below can only be described as a beautiful dark green. Seen from above, the coastline looked like broken pieces of a jigsaw and I only wish I had captured a better photograph of that broken coastline.

One side of the deck looked on to the sea and the other upon the city of Portsmouth. Portsmouth has been a base for the Royal Navy for over 500 years and many historic ships lined the shoreline. Further onshore, the Cathedral dating back to 1185 made for interesting viewing, as did the warships that looked ready for some serious action.

What we saw was a short and nice teaser, we intend to get back and explore the city at length another time. All in all, a good first stop.